English Explanatory Dictionary

hamster

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of various Old World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.
  2. In particular, a rodent of the species Mesocricetus auratus (the golden hamster) or of a species of the genera Cricetiscus and Phodopus (the dwarf hamsters), often kept as a pet or used in scientific research.
  3. Any of various other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).
verb
  1. To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.

Pronunciation

/ˈhæm(p)stɚ/ en-uk-hamster.ogg

Word forms

hamster hamsters hampster hamstering hamstered

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.

Synonyms

Syrian hamster stash

Related words

gerbil guinea pig mouse rat

Derived words

antihamster Chinese hamster Chinese hamster ovary cell Djungarian hamster Dzungarian hamster golden hamster hammy hamster ball hamsterer hamstering hamsterization hamsterless hamsterlike hamster style hamster wheel hamstery idea hamster mouse-like hamster rationalisation hamster rationalization hamster Russian winter white dwarf hamster Siberian dwarf hamster Siberian hamster winter white Russian hamster

Translations

Afrikaans: hamster Albanian: hamster Southern Altai: эрлен Arabic: قَدَاد Arabic: هَامِسْتَر Armenian: համստեր Azerbaijani: dağsiçanı Bashkir: алйырҙан Bashkir: ирлән Basque: hamster Belarusian: хамя́к Breton: hamster Bulgarian: хомя́к Bulgarian: ха́мстер Burmese: ဟမ်းစတား Catalan: hàmster Chechen: оьпа Chinese Mandarin: 倉鼠 /仓鼠 Cornish: hamster Czech: křeček Dalmatian: viala Danish: hamster Dutch: hamster Esperanto: hamstro Estonian: hamster Faroese: hamstur Faroese: hamstrari Finnish: hamsteri French: hamster French: rat de blé West-Frisian: hamster Friulian: cricęt Galician: hámster Georgian: ზაზუნა German: Hamster Greek: χάμστερ Hebrew: אוֹגֵר Hindi: हैम्स्टर Hungarian: hörcsög Icelandic: hamstur Ido: hamstro Indonesian: hamster Interlingua: hamster Irish: hamstar Italian: criceto
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